BA aims to resume most UK flights

British Airways says it is aiming to run a “near normal schedule” at Gatwick and the “majority of services” from Heathrow on Sunday after IT failure led to all flights being cancelled.

Serious problems with BA’s systems led to thousands of passengers having their plans disrupted on Saturday.

Passengers described “chaotic” scenes at the airports, with some criticising BA for a lack of information.

The airline apologised and said it was refunding and rebooking customers.

BA advised customers to continue checking the status of their flight on its website www.ba.com before travelling to the airport.

The airline said there was no evidence the computer problems were the result of a cyber attack.

The company’s chief executive Alex Cruz had said it was believed “the root cause was a power supply issue”.

Other airlines flying in and out of the two airports were unaffected.

A BA spokesman said: “We are continuing to work hard to restore all of our IT systems…

“We are extremely sorry for the huge disruption caused to customers throughout Saturday and understand how frustrating their experiences will have been.

“We are refunding or rebooking customers who suffered cancellations on to new services as quickly as possible and have also introduced more flexible rebooking policies for anyone due to travel on Sunday and Monday who no longer wishes to fly to/from Heathrow or Gatwick.”

Earlier, the airline said most long-haul flights due to land in London on Sunday were expected to arrive as normal.

BA passengers ‘trying not to cry’

The GMB union had suggested the failure could have been avoided, had the airline not outsourced its IT work.

BA denied the claim, saying: “We would never compromise the integrity and security of our IT systems”.

EU flight delay rights

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If your flight departed the European Union or was with a European airline, you might have rights under EU law to claim if the delay or cancellation was within the airline’s control

Short-haul flights: 250 euros for delays of more than three hours

Medium-haul flights: 400 euros for delays of more than three hours

Long-haul flights: 300 euros for delays of between three and four hours; and 600 euros for delays of more than four hours

If your flight’s delayed for two or more hours the airline must offer food and drink, access to phone calls and emails, and accommodation if you’re delayed overnight – including transfers between the airport and the hotel